DEGREES UNEDITED

# 10 [7 July 2010]

since my last post i have been back to Napton Skate park to check up on object for moving over #2and although the two pallets have been pulled apart it has clearly been skated upon which has left many fairly brutal signs of this and is hence performing its function. However the work being pulled apart is making it more apparent that more solid materials are necessary, perhaps concrete...

I have also been working out how i will actually put together my rope swings for the out yer treeexhibition at coombe abbey and have been checking up on rope strengths and am about to engage on learning knot tying.

I have also briefly installed installation 1 point 5 (mock-up) which is a bill board stating point 5 of the manifesto i wrote for my last assessment point at uni. Although the work is not actually resolved taking it outside made me quite egar to actually make the work as an actual billboard which i intend to do when back at university.

# 9 [19 June 2010]

Yesterday i finally installed object for moving over #2 at Napton skate park. It was actually quite strange to do - as it was going into a skate park it sort of got lost as a piece of work, Also the fact i was skating it myself (i've been a skateboarder for over a decade) made me view the work in a sort of confused way, i think i need to go back and view the work without having my skateboard with me and when I make further objects for skateboarding i think i need to try and remove myself from skateboarding so i can evaluate more clearly.

However seeing other people skating on and around it made me quite pleased. This process of installation really made me wish I had of had chance for people to skate object for moving over #1 when it was installed at central library in birmingham.

Another exhibition opppertunity has also presented itself - an outdoor exhibition at Coombe Abbey near Coventry and i was asked to put togeather a proposal pack, something i had not done before - but found quite useful in actually reviewing what i had done before. I have proposed the installation of rope swings to intergrate the sites play and walking space with each other.

Also at Coombe Abbey there is a wood turning workshop coming up which i am going to take part in, i am quite worried its going to be quite an old fashioned craft based day - but i guess with a bit of research before hand i can approach it with a method which will help my pratice.

# 8 [13 June 2010]

Again a busy 5 or so days! I attended the animation workshop at Leamington Spa art gallery that i have mentioned before and really enjoyed it, it was more of a 3D digital modeling workshop than an animation workshop but i found this more useful to my practice than i feel animation would have been. I was also looking at the days tuition style and was quite interested to see it was basically pure instruction/step by step and i guess that suits the computer work / sat at desk style of learning and am still looking for other workshops to participate in so i have something to compare it with. The last workshop I took part in was a relief print workshop with Ryan McCalland which i feel i got more out of due to a greater interaction with the artist and being able to incorporate the workshop into my own practice. However the digital modeling workshop has left me wanting to experiment a bit more so i can really see what is possible.

I also finished Sign work #2ready for the LSA summer show and have had 5 limited edition prints of the work made which i am going to number and sign on the rear, these are going to be priced at 20quid (unframed) and am pricing the sculpture itself at £300. I am really pleased with how the piece has come out and its finish has actually convinced me to only show one work as opposed to the two i was planning on. I am still really looking forward to seeing it in an exhibition space and as my prints still haven't arrived I'm quite excited to see them as well. This being the first time i have had to price work i really struggled on deciding on a price and am still not really sure how i decided on £300...its times like these where i definitely noticed how useful the uni studios and staff are!!!

# 7 [6 June 2010]

I have been struggling to make work over the past week, and not for lack of ideas or materials or even time... The thing i have been struggling with has been trying to work in a studio which is actually a room in my flat, there are so many distractions which just aren't there when working in an actual studio space!!!

Despite this struggle i have managed to be fairly productive, i have started working on a new sign work, using a pre-fabricated sign i found on ebay - i have been treating the surface ready to apply the text and should have pictures up (on here) later in the week. I am planning on using gloss paint to get a really smooth, convincing and almost reflective quality but am not sure if perhaps some sort of metallic paint would be more suitable or even a vinyl of some description - which i guess will be discovered when the work is finished!!!

Another thing which has been keeping me busy has been filling out my entrance form to the LSA (leamington studio artists) summer exhibition I have been invited to exhibit in as well as trying to decide what to actually show!!! I have decided upon my gazibo roof piece which i have provisonally titled object for living under as well as the sign piece I have just been discussing which I am calling sign work #2. I am really excited about the prospect of this exhibition as it will give me the opportunity to see my work alongside other workingartists and in a gallery space i have not had the work in. From previous experience this process of seeing work in a different context is really useful.

I am still also waiting for an opportunity to install my work in Napton skate park which i hope will be happening soon. I am also returning to Bournville College tomorrow an am looking forward to seeing what the students have done since I was last there.

In the past 2 weeks i have also visited The Potteries Gallery in Stoke -on- Trent and a folk music and dancing day at MAC both of which were enjoyable but i wasn't paying much critical attention and need to get myself back into the routine of visiting exhibitions and really paying attention.

# 6 [24 May 2010]

I started giving tutorials at Bournville College today which was actually quite enjoyable, some of the students were genuinely enthusiastic but others really didn't seem to care about their work, how it read or what it was engaging with. Still i hope i managed to give some insight to what they can expect over the next few years. It also shows how difficult trying to teach actually can be!!!

I also moved a piece of work out of storage in the university today ready to be installed at Napton skate park so as soon as I've been to Warwickshire their will be photo's upon here. I keep on reminding myself to get good documentation of the work in use as it is something which will eventually be used to death and will never actually be seen by an "art audience". I have also realised that the digital print to go with the work is going to need laminating to survive outside which i feel could change the aesthetic of the work quite significantly so will need to review that as well when installed.

I have also recently started a digital sketchbook which i have been saving artists video's and interviews to and might eventually put some of my work into, this can be see here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrRyanstyle

through this process of searching you tube i have discovered Robert Morris's Bodyspacemotionthingswhich have really interested me...

I have also finally got my home studio into a state i am going to be able to work in and have started making some drawings of ideas I've been mentally developing for a while now...

# 5 [19 May 2010]

I spent the last few days working on the studio and gallery rebuilds for the up coming degree shows and as well as providing some much needed money it has really helped me see how much work i have to do next year!!!

Working alongside staff, ex-students and students setting up to exhibit in the degree show has also been useful in trying to predict my future. I wasn't particularly worried about the future anyway but i think the last few days has shown me that if i really want to i will be able to make a living within the art world.

Enforcing this I have been offered the poss. of running a workshop for students aged 4 to 11 over the summer in a small school in Warwickshire, and as I think I've mentioned on here before I start giving tutorials at Bournville Collage on Monday.

Through all this i haven't had chance to actually make any work, however i have been developing performances i intend to make over the summer and will start work on these next week i hope (as long as i get my home studio workable by then!!!). I also have my portable object for moving over #1 being collected and put in to storage on Monday ready for instillation at Napton Skate park some point next month hopefully.

Lots of exciting things happening at the min but can't help thinking next years going to have even more things going on!!!

# 4 [16 May 2010]

I'm sure I've said on here (and if i haven't it's been playing on my mind) that I want my works to be more visually refined than they have been. I'm not pleased with my crude use of gaffer tape and quickly cut lettering and have already made the decision since assessment that i will spend some time developing a more precise aesthetic in my work.

Whilst visiting the IKON GALLERYtoday i saw a show which had some really interesting links to my practice. It was RON TERADA'sfirst solo show in Europe and featured posters, signs, text work and a sort of relational environment consisting of beanbags for viewing a video of a turntable playing a record, also in the space was a pile of records to be taken away with the viewer.

There were quite a few things from this exhibition which raised my interest, firstly the relational space itself was really interesting and i felt the methodologies used for public interaction with a highly produced product to be taken away is something i need to consider when making new work. However the work which most caught my attention was his "welcome to Vancouver" sign, having tried working with signage before and then seeing TERADA's sign i realised i was working with the symbol, image or idea of a sign and need to work more with the realistic form of a sign to be pleased with my use of it as a method of communication. Hence another thing I plan on doing over summer is to examine actual signs paying attention to the ways they are constructed, installed and observed as well as paying attention to the typeface used and other such details. 

# 3 [13 May 2010]

Assessments done and today I've been taking down my work and trying to get it back to my flat, unexpectedly this has risen some interesting points in my practice.

I've always been aware that my works are temporary but today helped me to realise that my works are temporary solutions to a situation not completely temporary themselves - there are objects left after they have served their functions and i need to consider this further. Where do i store them? Is it important for me to keep them at all or is the documentation enough for the work to have existed? 

One thing i plan to do over summer to test their lasting presence in space is to put works in to sites for extended periods of time and document the effect, for example i will put my first portable object for moving over into Napton skate park where the local skateboarders can use it. I also plan on putting my signs in to various ares which i have not decided upon yet.

I am also about to start a placement at Bournville Collage where i will be tutoring BTEC students on their FMP's which will be interesting and may also present an opportunity for me to put my work somewhere on campus.

# 2 [10 May 2010]

Today was the last working day of the academic year, I'm fully set up for assessement which will be taking place over the next few days and then its time to really get involved with reading for my dissertation, it might be a little early but with the summer being as long as it is i feel i can really get through a good amount of reading.

I really want to find workshops to participate in as well so i can spend summer fairly usefully, I want to run some workshops myself next year so am going to be looking at the leaders "teaching styles". I'm planning on attending an animation workshop with SUMIT SARKAR in Leamington Spa and although it's going to be very different to the way i normally work I'm quite excited. I'm also planning on attending a digeroo making and playing workshop here in birmingham at the newly re-opened MAC which I think maybe even more "out there". If anyone knows of any workshops happening in the midlands please let me know!!!

Back to assessment for a minute though, I was looking over my works again today and had a sudden realisation that i needed a sort of booklet to guide viewers through my works - not nessercerally to explain the work for assessment but as a piece of work in its self, this is something i had been considering for a while but hadn't had time to make - however i decided to just make it there and then and actually ended up really quite pleased with it. However i then spent a long time wondering if this method of working is substantial enough to qualify as it being a worthwhile piece of work??? I seem to quite often rush making works after sitting on an idea for a while and then wish i had taken more time in production to give the concept everything i feel it deserve - this is something i need to work on in the future i feel although i seemed to work well under the pressure of knowing it had to be finished by 4:00 today.

# 1 [7 May 2010]

It is the week before my final assessment of my 2nd year and i have been reviewing what i have actually done this year as well as trying to set up my work for the assessment.

My biggest problem has been space, I made my work in the courtyard and was told shortly after that i couldn't leave it there due to health and safety (which is really quite frustrating) which i guess is something I'm going to have to come to terms with for the future if i am going to be making works for public sites. However the time my work was outside for allowed me to view it as a whole for the first time which enabled me to see it was too tall and open - i intended it to propose a new method of outdoor temporary living but very quickly realised it provided no privacy and very little comfort.

When i got the work back to my space in its collapasable form i propped the roofing up against the wall and realised how this referenced hard edge paintings which is something i have not been hugley aware of in my work before. This positioning of the work also opened up new sculptural ideas to me as i realised if you went behind it all the comfort and privacy that was lacking outside had become present.

I am looking forward to my feed back so i can start planning fully for my 3rd year although i have a fairly good idea of where my work is going and some of the things i would like to try.